Goal Setting: 19 for 2019

I've been listening to a podcast called Happier in the studio. It's all about small habits & practices that contribute to a happier life. Since I listen to several episodes at a time, so many ideas flying at me can get a little overwhelming, but there are valuable nuggets in there. One that came up a couple episodes ago was 19 in 2019, a list of 19 things you want to do in the new year. It was remarkably clarifying for me, as much for the things that didn't make the list as for the things that did. In considering the candidates, I had to weigh whether committing to doing this thing was realistic. and if not why not. Several of the things I'd like to do I left off the list - get the house painted, take a yoga class - after realizing that, though I might like to do those things, there are reasons why I haven't already. I haven't had the house painted because I don't have money for that. I haven't done it myself because there are more urgent/ important demands on my time. I don't take a yoga class because more committed blocks in my schedule make it harder to find days to fire. And so on. I had a feeling of releasing burdens by acknowledging that some things just are not going to happen, for legit reasons.

Here's my list, with the studio-related items highlighted. As you see, I was (so far!) only able to come up with 17. This is also a relief: there isn't really much about my life that I would like to change.

1. Pedal 100 miles a week
2. At least one canoe trip
3. Finish the kitchen counter
4. Learn how to felt soap
5. Get credit card down 30%
6. One social thing per month
7. Studio work & firings on schedule
8. Declutter hallway desk
9. 20 hrs per week in the studio
10. Use Instagram better for business
11. Pour concrete front walkway
12. 5 postcards to voters per month
13. Almost-daily 2 minutes of yoga
14. 1 blog post /wk
15. Drink more water
16. Increase online sales
• Keep better track of inventory
17. NCECA
18. .
19. 
    

 A couple of these I feel funny about...like, surely I shouldn't have to set a goal to get myself in the studio 20 hours a week! It's my vocation, and my calling, and more than that it's my freakin' job! Should that happen effortlessly? But when I looked at the other things in my schedule - teaching 6 classes, 6 hours of commuting a week, household stuff, helping out my elderly mom - I realized, no wonder I have a hard time finding enough time! Again, it was with a sense of laying a burden down: I'm not just lazy or disorganized or a fuck-up - I have a lot on my plate. So setting that goal no longer seems silly.

Anyway, as Gretchen Rubin says at the end of every Happier podcast: Onward & upward! Next thing to do is make a list of what I need to get these things accomplished.

Checking in: 19 for '19

Back in January, following a suggestion I heard on a podcast, I made myself a list of 19 things I want to do in 2019. Some are one-time experiences ("NCECA") and others are habits I want to acquire or maintain. Mid-March seems like a good time to check in with myself and see how well I am progressing with these goals. Some, of course, I can't tell how I'm doing; how do I know if I am doing well or poorly on #2, for example. "At least one canoe trip?" It's still winter. Some others, tho, I can judge:

Pedal 100 miles a week - this is probably my most successful resolution, made possible by the Fitdesk, which I am pedaling right now! Usually I do about 120 miles a week, and I really hate to break my streak, so I'll make an extra push if it looks like I am going to fail. 

Finish the kitchen counter - Working on it. 

Learn how to felt soap - Haven't gotten to this yet, but I'm optimistic

Get credit card down to 7K - Making enough progress that it looks like this will happen, barring some disaster. 

One social thing per month - This is actually the hardest one for me! I failed at this in February, unless a funeral counts as a "social thing." I have plans for 2 in March (counting seeing friends at NCECA) to make up it. 
Studio work & firings on schedule - I need to actually write the schedule to know if I am sticking to it! So, yeah, can't count this as a success, not yet. 
Declutter hallway desk - Haven't gone anywhere near it. ☹️

20 hrs per week in the studio - This I have been doing pretty well, although I did amend it to include photographing & delivering work. 

Use Instagram better for business - I've been using it more; i don't know if I've been using it better. 

5 postcards to voters per month - I am 3 for 3 on this! Win!

Almost-daily 2 minutes of yoga - C+...but that reminds me [unfurls mat...]

1 blog post /wk - Pretty close!

Drink more water - I'd say I'm drinking the same amount of water, but spending less on it, as I am now in the habit of keeping a jug in the refrigerator. Half credit? 

Increase online sales - This has been a successful effort! I could still get better, but it helps to list more stuff & share the links to the listed stuff. That should be obvious, I guess, but I tool the resolution to make me do it regularly. 

NCECA - Got everything lined up to go! 

Brush + floss teeth 2ce daily - I'm embarrassed that this even has to be on the list, but I noticed that when I get really busy, sometimes I forget, especially the flossing. Having it on the list has been a huge improvement. I know I should do it 3 times a day, and sometimes I do, but twice seemed like a more manageable goal, again especially the flossing.  

All in all I am pretty pleased with myself. 

Demos & Seconds & One-offs, Oh My!

Every pottery teacher amasses demos. I teach 5 classes, all mixed skill levels, so I make a lot of demo pots. I don't fire all of them, but I do a lot of glazing demos, also, so many of them do eventually emerge a a finished product. It's the nature of teaching that I teach many techniques and forms that are not in my usually body of work, and also, I don't do the types of detail work - sanding the bottoms, for example - that I do on what I think of as my "real" work.

In addition, my firing method - soda-firing - generates a fair amount of seconds. Pasty, not-enough-glaze pots, big blobs of soda in unfortunate places, warps, minor cracks...all of those fall in the category of aesthetic seconds: flaws that don't compromise the function of the piece.

What to do with all these oddballs? In the summer I sell many of them from my front yard "pottery stairs," but in the winter they just pile up. Since one of my 19 for 2019 was to increase online sales, I decided to offer these imperfect-but-fine pieces a place in my online store. Upside: maybe sell some pots! Downside: photographing & listing takes time - way more time than just sticking them on shelves in the yard & letting them sell themselves. It may turn out to be not worth it. Also, the flaws do not decrease the cost of shipping, so they are not as much of a bargain for online shoppers as they are for drive-bys. In spite of these, I decided to give it a try. Here are the pots I've listed so far:

Serving Bowl w Green Dots, $30
(Some of the dots are smudged)

Butter Dish with Dots (& a Blotch) , $32

The flaw is the blotch, obviously! But this one is nevertheless my favorite. 

Green quilted mug, $22
I got distracted while doing this demo for my class, and mis-spaced one of the quilting lines.

See that funky diagonal? That's what I get for trying to do too many things at once. 

We'll see how it goes. Worst case, they don't sell, and will find homes when summer comes.

22 for 2022...eh who am I kidding

In December 2018, I made a 19 for 2019 list of things I wanted to do in the upcoming year: experiences, habits, & purchases I thought might improve my life. And they did! Or at least they started to: at the beginning of 2020, I had a new body of work, a string of new stores planning to carry that work, I was healthier & more productive. All kindsa good stuff was happening. It worked so well I made a similar list: 20 for 2020. 

And then...well, you know the story, You're living it, too. 

Anticipating an end the the pandemic (because: vaccine!), at the end of 2020 I made a 21 for 2021 list but, well, the end didn't happen. Too many chose not to get vaccinated, and the pandemic raged on. We all did good if we stayed afloat. (LOL, yes I know: Superman does good; we did well.) None of that looks likely to change in 2022, but I still plan to make a list - kind of a reboot. Most things will be the same, but the priorities may be rearranged. Home stuff, outdoor stuff, online stuff; let's see how much I can accomplish with those guiding lights.

22 is a lot, & I'm not gonna try to come up with them all today. Here are the 1st 5.

22 for 2022 (some of em anyway)

1. 5 miles a day or 50 miles a week. I find I have a much better day if I spend some time on the Fitdesk in the morning. I know this, but sometimes I still skip it. Gonna do better about that. 
2. 15 hours a week in the studio. I spend a lot more time than that on my business, of course, but a lot of things count as business activities. I want to make sure I spend at least that much on actual making. 
3. Add fruit or vegetables to everything. The benefits are obvious, but this is harder than it sounds! I can make it easier but chopping up veggies ahead of time, so I can just toss them in whatever I am making. 
4. Hiking at least once a month Or, you know, snowshoeing, biking, kayaking. I love that stuff, and it makes my life happier. It's important. 
5. And, overlapping that, one social thing a month. I'm pretty introverted - no, strike that, I'm super introverted -  and I burn a lot of my social resources teaching clay classes. Without a conscious effort I might never see anyone outside of work except Doug & my family. Maintaining friendships is important, too, though, & I know I will be glad I did. 

Got all the prep work done for the glaze firing yesterday - mixed kiln wash, washed all my new furniture, mixed up some wadding. I don't need door mud - YAY - because there will be no stacking of the door - also YAY! 

Here's the furniture. all dressed up & ready to go. Well, Half dressed up. I took the photo before I dipped the 2nd end. 

The Year of Yes OH WAIT

True Story: In 1996 I had a spectacular year. I won a big grant, I published an article in Ceramics Monthly, and I got into every show I applied for. I bought a house, I was hired to teach at the Northern Clay Center, I had two solo shows and took on 10 new wholesale accounts. Everything was coming up roses and daffodils, everything I touched turned to gold; I couldn't lose.

I may be gilding this a bit, in memory - but it was a hell of a winning streak. Then my life fell apart, from the marriage outward. The marriage was probably dead in 1997, but it took 3 years to fall down (and another for us to bury it.) During those 3 years I had far less time and energy to devote to business, and while I kept making and selling pots, and I kept teaching classes, I really wasn't able to build on the successes I had in golden 1996. The culmination of the collapse was when I gave up, ended the marriage, sold the house, and moved back to Maine, where I essentially had to start over again. In spite of that gloomy sentence, this was a good thing! I established my studio, got a teaching gig or two, met Doug, bought my house...put my life back together, remembering to build in a lot more laughter and joy, this time.

But, professionally, I never had another year like 1996, when I just couldn't lose.

Until now.

Who knows why? (Random, I guess? But I am tempted to credit my 19 for 2019 goal list.) For whatever reason, 2020 was shaping up to be another Year of Yes. All the doors were opening, all the lights were turning green. Remembering 1996 I had a bit of superstitious dread: what shit would the universe throw at me this time?

Although I admit I did not have "global pandemic" on my bingo card.

So, the Year of Yes has morphed into the year of hold on, just hold on. My classes have been suspended, some sales events cancelled, stores are OBVIOUSLY not selling as much. I have postponed the pottery tour, and I am still in hopes that by June we will be returning to normalcy...we'll see how that works out. Doug & I are hunkered down for a long spell of isolation. It's not so bad together, but of course we are worried about money - us and everyone. In Maine the governor & legislature are working on unemployment packages for people like us - if this had to happen, thank God it happened under Governor Mills, and not her predecessor. We aren't getting any leadership from the federal government, so the cities and states have to step up.

Anyway. At least I can make pots, mix glazes, and do kiln maintenance. I've also been journaling this experience - if you're bored, you can read about it here.

Be well. Stay home.

Review: 23 for 2034

In late 2018, I made a "19 for 2019" list of things I would like to do or habits I would like to acquire in the new year. That went well the first year, less so the 2nd (for REASONS!), and I didn't even try in 2021. I just revisited my list for 2023, and...lol. Some stuff I acheved, some I made progress on, & some I forgot I had even planned to do it! We did get a dishwasher installed - it's awesome & saves me even more time than I thought it would. I do my stationary bike ride nearly every day, I am selling much more online, and I got a time tracker - I average about 11 making hours in the studio a week. Those are some successes, and then there are the items like "learn to use instagram to sell!" & "kayak the Nonesuch" and "get back to writing postcards to voters." Yeah, those didn't happen. Like, at all. Nor did I start cleaning out my car regularly or making clay videos for Patreon. I made a little progress on the attic - called a carpenter, started talking about how much it might cost.

All in all I think the lists help me focus on how I would like my life to be, & help me identify steps to bring the reality closer. So even though I failed dismally at some, the exercise brought about enough positive changes that it's worth doing again. 

Who's with me? (LOL! Like last year, I literally do not know if anyone at all is reading these. I took out the stat counter a couple of years ago, so I may just be shouting into the void.)

The Making Cycle

In an effort to better plan my production, I am trying to realistically detail the phases of my making cycle. I am lucky to enjoy all phases of the making cycle, although not, of course, equally! (ETA: I lied. I do not actually enjoy kiln maintenance, including shelf-grinding. That shit can suck it.)

Anyway, the cycle looks like this; all of these are interspersed & overlapping with my teaching days, not to mention art fairs & other sales event, so it's actually a lot less tidy than this will make it look:

2 1/2 weeks of wetwork: throwing, trimming, decorating, handles. This usually takes the form of one throwing day, two finishing. This is not carved in stone (or even in stoneware!) of course - if I am making more highly decorated piece, I might need a third day of finishing between throwing days. When people think about what a potter's life might be like - assuming the get past Ghost, which, no - they usually picture a life at the wheel, but in fact I only have four or five throwing days in a cycle. Things aren't divided up as tidily as all that - it's rare that I would throw more than 3 or four hours in any given day, so most wetwork days contain both throwing and decorating, and sometimes nothing is at the right stage, so I'll go mix glazes or (UGH) grind shelves. 

3-4 days of drying: This is when I am most likely get a day off. I mean, I take days off like normal people do, but if I am able to schedule them, I try to make them land in the drying time (Kiln-cooling days are also good for this!). It's also a good time to mix glazes, grind shelves, make cone packs, list items online. 

3 1/2 days: Loading, firing, cooling & unloading the bisque. During the firing or cooling day I will rearrange the studio for glazing.  

3-4 days of waxing, slipping, and glazing: This is quite variable also! If I am glazing Dotopia pots, I might only need 2 1/2 days. A kiln load of OOAK pieces might even need 5. 

4 1/2 days: Loading, firing, cooling, unloading the glaze kiln. I try to clean the studio during the firing/cooling days, and arrange it into a wetwork space once again - put away the glazes & the folding tables, get any leftover bisqueware out of the way. 

 A week of grinding, sorting, pricing, packing, shipping, and delivering. 

That all adds up to about 5 weeks, so I really should be able to fire more than I do, even assuming I give myself a week in between to breathe - not exactly a vacation, because I still teach my classes, but 6 weeks a year of working less hard, and 2 actual vacation weeks, as in, not working.

More firings mean more pots - yay - and more pots mean more work on the other end, selling those pots. This is a natural consequence, because shelves full of pots motivates me to go out & find outlets. This is backwards, I know: I should be making to fill existing outlets, but that's not how I roll.
Maybe I could work on that, in the new year. I have a lot to work on! I'm coming up with my "20 for 2020" list, since "19 for 2019" was so helpful. Not entirely successful, but I made more progress on things that matter to me than I would have without it.

 

 

 

Beautiful Bottoms

At art fairs, I always know when another potter has entered the booth, even before they speak: potters always turn pots over to look at the bottom. Mostly, I suppose, because there's a lot of information there - if it's not obvious from looking at the surface, a glance at the bottom will tell you how the pot was fired. But often, on atmospherically-fired pots, the bottom is as beautiful as the body of the pot.

I've just listed some new items in the Pottery Shop (in keeping with #16 on my 19 for 2019 list! I am actually doing it.) When I photograph the pots, I'll usually take a shot of the most beautiful bottoms. Does that make me weird? Maybe...or maybe I'm just a potter, like you. Yeah, I see you, turning pots over. Can't fool me.
Here they are:

Click here to purchase this Sunburst Bowl

Click here to purchase this Ring of Pearls Bowl

Click here to purchase this Rustic Floral Bowl

Click here to purchase this So Comfy Mug

Click here to purchase this Monday Morning Mug

The kiln did all the work, in the case of these particular bottoms, but sometimes I'll put a little slip-trailed curlique within a foot ring, or stencil on an underglaze dragonfly...I like the idea of a little surprise, a tiny treat for the person who washes the pot & puts it away. It's like a wink, passed between me & them: "Thanks for taking care of my creation."

Pot Shots

In keeping with my 19 for 2019, one of which was "Increase online sales," I needed to do some product photography. I want to be creative with it - find tablecloths that complement but don't distract, choose fruits or veggies as accents to highlight functionality...but that was getting in the way of just getting it done, so I set all that aside for a bit to just take some basic shots. Even that is a several-hours-long-project, which involves rearranging my living room. I'm not sure I'm doing the lights right...should they be that close? idk.
Some are easier to shoot than others! Matte glazes or exteriors that are mostly flashing slip/soda glass present less of a challenge than, say, this super-glossy oribe vase! This looks moderately like crap, with all the reflections - can you see me? I should have waved - but the better ones are not all that much better.

I have about 10 more pieces to photograph today. Then comes processing! Each photo will need to be cropped & renamed, and in some cases have the light rebalanced. After that, I'll need to take dimensions, write descriptions, and then post these online. This pottery gig is a lot of work!

25 for 2025

 

The first year I did an "XX for 20XX" list was 2019. That list was easy to make, and I felt it made a difference in clarifying my goals for that year. Did I achieve every item on the list? I think you know the answer to that! But I find even partially completed New Year's resolutions get me closer to my goals. You have to know what your goals are to achieve them. 

The subsequent lists have been harder, in part because I took care of the low-hanging fruit the first year. As the numbers went up, the list got harder! Until this year. For some reason, this year the list practically made itself! I had to edit it to keep to 25. Some are tiny. Some are so big they will require their own plan. I x'd out some of the specific financial stuff, since that seems too private to share.
The items in bold are the ones which require a detailed plan; I'm working on those today & tomorrow. 

25 for 2025

• 1.      5 Postcards to Voters a month
• 2.      Birthday & anniversary adventures
• 3.      25+ hours in the studio every week
• 4.      Two new accounts – see list!
• 5.      Daily gratitude
• 6.      Wednesdays with Mom once a month
• 7.      Pedal 6+ miles a day
• 8.      Get dressed *immediately* after finishing workout
• 9.      Increase savings by $xxxx
• 10.   Blog post per week
• 11.  Double Patreon subscribers
• 12.  Double online sales
• 13.   Average 15 grams of fiber per day
• 14.   Stay within my calorie goal 90% of the time
• 15.   Pack lunch 1x week
• 16.   One date with Doug per week
• 17.   Eat only when hungry
• 18.   Fruit or vegetables every meal
• 19.   Meditation 2 mins/day
• 20.   Two social things per month
• 21.   Two outdoor adventures/month
• 22.  Buy less stuff & buy more mindfully 
• 23.  Find time to see the people I miss
• 24.   Floss daily
• 25.   Renew my library card
• 26.   Pick one household project to finish in 2025